Sailed on AZURA on her first cruise after her return from the Caribbean. We were delayed by 4 hours on departure by a computer failure, or was it deep cleaning!! We will never know. P&O excel at organisation compared to some other ... Read More

Sailed on AZURA on her first cruise after her return from the Caribbean. We were delayed by 4 hours on departure by a computer failure, or was it deep cleaning!! We will never know. P&O excel at organisation compared to some other cruise lines so everything was well organised. Avoid cafe at terminal - too expensive and awful coffee.
We had a balcony stateroom on Riviera deck and never again. Our cabin was under the aqua deck and we could hear chairs being scraped on top of our ceiling at all times of the day and night. Surely for such a new ship someone could have thought of adequate sound proofing. Certainly price charged a bit too steep for these cabins.
Dining experience in Oriental,Sindhu, Glass House all excellent. Verona and Venezia self service buffets good food choices but there seemed at times to be too many chiefs directing staff and not watching when areas were running out of food.
Entertainment staff worked really hard and Cruise Director Neil Oliver does very well. However, too many comedians one after the other left passengers sitting through one comedian telling 6 jokes we had heard the previous evening. Better scheduling required. The tribute acts were good but the in house company should act less and sing more, that was their strengths. Jet Set and Azura orchestra excellent. I have to comment on the last singer Ritchie Sampson. I think most people walking out the first evening during your act should have been a clue. The second time when the theatre was nearly empty should have been a wake up call. Telling an audience to applaud the orchestra and give ourselves a round of applause 3 times in 15 minutes is unprofessional and not what we expect. Motown and Soul are great sounds but you killed it. Awful.
Weaknesses were very little entertainment during the sea days.
Security staff particularly female staff should smile more, passengers have paid for the pleasure of cruising we are not criminals.
P&O should be very careful when not reacting to children running around decks and around lifts and corridors in the evening. If one goes overboard it won't be the parents who will be taking the blame.P & O excel at organisation compared to some of their sister companies. All entries at the various port of calls went smoothly.
I would certainly travel with them again but will try a smaller ship next time. Read Less